Chapter 2

25th December, 1700 – Cold Cheer

<Artist's impression of the Karlstad Forest>

Merry Christmas! It is cold here in the heart of the Karlstad forest. Despite my best efforts, I cannot help think back about the warm fire in father’s study and the fun we used to have on Christmas Eve. Instead, here I sit with my fellow soldiers, shivering in the relentless cold and munching on some hard tack. The funny thing is that though I am quite close to my hometown, I may as well be on the other side of the Baltic. I cannot leave my unit now...or I will definitely get shot for desertion!

The good news – I am now officially in the service of His Majesty Karl the XII, as a soldier in the reformed 4th Regiment of Foot, Line Infantry. After a week of forced march, I reached Stockholm with my meager belongings. Fortunately, there were recruiting stations all over the city and I at once headed for the nearest one. After filling in a form and being questioned by a glass eyed Sergeant with a surly disposition, I was sent to an inner tent for physical checks. I must have passed, because after a brief speech about how lucky I was to have joined the King’s Army, I was handed my uniform, a soldier’s kit bag, a musket (with no ammunition) and a letter to give to the Colonel of the 4th. The regiment was camped on the outskirts of the city, so I headed there...hungry but happy. Little did I know what I was getting into!

<The Barracks of the 4th Regiment of Foot>

Boot camp was living hell on Earth. Getting up before dawn ever day and spending the entire day marching round the countryside in full gear, practicing close combat tactics, loading and cleaning the musket (due to the scarcity of ammunition we rarely got to actually fire our gun) and undergoing endless drills. Food at the camp meant eating hard tack twice a day. Our gear, our gun and our discipline – that’s all life was about. And so ten long months passed in what seemed almost a jiffy.

Then one day we were woken up late at night and told to report to the parade grounds. And then, in the dead of night, the entire regiment marched off north to join the rest of the newly replenished Swedish 1st Army. They later told us the reason for the sudden departure – to evade the attention of any potential spies. Maybe that was true, but if it was just Colonel Hansson’s way of toughening us up – I wouldn’t be surprised!

And so here we are – a total force of more than 9,760 men (and 9 cannons), camped in the Karlstad forest, near the Norwegian border.

Meanwhile, news has come in that the world at large is once again becoming a more violent place. The Kingdom of Poland-Lithuania has declared war on us. The Austrians have declared war on them. In turn the Prussians have declared war on the Austrians and the Polish. Though so far, the Russians have desisted from declaring war on us, thanks primarily to the efforts of the Lord Chief Minister Trygve Malmer, who has managed to set up a trade route with them. But we don’t know how long such a state of affairs will remain.

Only one thing seems sure - conflict with the Danish seems inevitable.

What will the New Year bring for us? For the whole of Sweden? Only time will tell...